Woodchip and steel are rushing to Vung Ang port

Vung Ang Customs officers supervise and check exported steel at Son Duong port. Photo: H.Nụ

Import and export of goods take place actively

In the first quarter of 2023, at Son Duong port, there were two large ships, about 10-12 domestic ships and dozens of vehicles for refueling, fueling and transporting crew members to inland and vice versa, carrying thousands of tons of goods of all kinds every day.

At Vung Ang port, on average, there were two turns of import and export cargo ships arriving at the port every day and the Customs authority has received and handled procedures for nearly 10 sets of customs declarations.

In 2022, the total export volume and value of woodchips increased sharply to 15.81 million tons. In particular, the export volume and turnover increased sharply since March and peaked in August, then tended to decrease but it still maintains more than 1.1 million tons/month in volume and about US$220 million/month in turnover.

Following the growth momentum, in the first month of 2023, enterprises have actively exported this item. It is worth mentioning that, compared to the same period in 2022, the export of woodchips at this time is much more active.

Many enterprises said that Japan was a potential market for enterprises to exploit and promote the export of wood chips in 2023. Accordingly, in the first quarter of 2023, Viet Nhat Vung Ang Paper Material Production Co., Ltd. exported to the Japanese market which reached 19,500 tons of wood chips, thereby achieving revenue of VND 81 billion and paying more than VND1.6 billion to the state budget.

Also maintaining the growth momentum of 2022, in the first three months of the year, HANVIHA Forest and Products Co., Ltd declared to carry out procedures with 29,808 tons of wood chips exported to Japan and China markets. Enterprises have contributed to Ha Tinh's export turnover of more than US$4 million, growing 106% over the same period in 2022.

According to a representative of HANVIHA Forest and Products Co., Ltd, currently, the demand for wood chips in the Japanese and Chinese markets is still very large, although the price is lower than in the last months of the year, it still has profits for businesses.

From the beginning of the year, enterprises have actively searched and connected the market, so they have signed large supply orders for foreign partners, contributing to a high growth in export turnover compared to last year.

At Vung Ang - Son Duong port cluster, besides wood chips, billet and finished steel products of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation (FHS) are also having strong breakthroughs compared to 2022. In the first three months of 2023, FHS carried out procedures to export more than 235,000 tons of steel billets, rising by 116% over the same period in 2022 and 539,125 tons of steel, an increase of 65% over the same period in 2022.

Thereby, Formosa Ha Tinh has contributed to the export turnover of Ha Tinh province of more than US$400 million.

Talking to reporters, Deputy Manager of Vung Ang Port Customs Branch Le Van Hanh said, from the first days of the year, the unit has launched many solutions to facilitate businesses to carry out procedures; promote dissemination and guide new policies; directly remove and solve problems and difficulties for businesses through many forms such as direct exchange, email, and phone.

Besides handling arising issues, the unit continues to promote administrative procedure reform, digital transformation, and customs modernization of a long-term nature to facilitate trade, reducing the time for cargo clearance.

Thanks to positive solutions, as of March 15, Vung Ang Customs has completed export procedures for 265 customs declarations with a total export turnover of more than US$440 million, an increase of 65.3% over the same period last year. Products that account for a large proportion of exports include: steel reached US$304 million, growing 48.9% over the same period in 2022; steel billet reached US$108 million, rising 34.6% over the same period in 2022; wood chips reached US$23.8 million, increasing 15.7% over the same period in 2022.

Maintain human resources to perform duties 24/7

In 2023, with the positive recovery of the economy and special advantages of Vung Ang - Son Duong deep-water port cluster, Ha Tinh Customs expected to have more positive changes in promoting import-export activities to develop strongly through the area, contributing to creating new stable revenue sources through Ha Tinh province.

Setting the goal of supporting and facilitating enterprises, Vung Ang Customs has proactively arranged forces to carry out professional activities 24/7, quickly solving problems related to procedures. Strengthen inspection and supervision of clearance and goods that are brought in and out of seaports.

In addition, with the main revenue from FHS accounting for over 97% of the unit's total revenue collection, Vung Ang Customs regularly captures business information of enterprises; promptly guides customs procedures and removes obstacles in import and export activities for enterprises to clear goods quickly.

According to Mr. Le Van Hanh, in 2023, the unit was assigned to collect VND 10,420 billion, this is the highest level of assigned target for revenue collection ever for the unit. To complete this task, the unit has developed a revenue collection scenario for each month and each quarter in order to ensure the accomplishment of assigned tasks. In particular, along with large enterprises that are paying sustainable revenue to the unit, Vung Ang Customs is expected to have more huge revenue sources from the import of machinery and equipment to create fixed assets to build the VinES battery factory of Vingroup.

However, at present, Vung Ang Port does not have a large warehouse system to gather goods. Besides that, the infrastructure for loading and unloading cargo has not been modernized yet, and wharf No.3 has not been put into operation, are also a big obstacle causing difficulties for import and export activities through the port.

Therefore, it is hoped that in the future, departments, agencies and localities will pay attention to investing in Vung Ang port infrastructure in order to further promote import-export activities, contributing to increasing revenue collection for the locality, Mr. Le Van Hanh stressed.